Robertson: US Is Broke, Dollar Isn't Safe-Haven

Hedge-fund legend Julian Robertson says the Federal Reserve’s massive easing strategy isn’t working. The government is broke and isn’t addressing the issue, he tells The Australian newspaper.

The U.S. government’s approach to solving the huge budget deficit and debt burden is to kick the can down the road, hoping "things will go along OK," even when it’s clear they won’t, says the found of Tiger Fund. "We are obsessed with not doing anything about it."

The budget deficit is forecast to hit $1.6 trillion this year, and the federal government’s debt stands at $14 trillion.

Bottom line, Robertson says: "We are broke, broker than all get out. We prefer to put on the Santa Claus suit and celebrate Christmas" rather than addressing the crisis.

Warren Buffett

And the Fed’s quantitative easing approach (QE2) isn’t doing anything to help, he says. It’s merely pushing investors to place their money in non-cash assets — commodities. "Not just gold and silver but cotton, soybeans, you name it, they're all rising," he says.

QE2 is helping to weaken the dollar’s safe-haven status, Robertson says. "It (the dollar) is not my refuge."

Another investment icon, Warren Buffett also is questioning all the stimulus coming out of Washington.

"The government really did its job there in the fall of 2008," at the peak of the financial crisis, but now "I don't think we need as much monetary or fiscal stimulus as is going on," he tells CNBC.

Hedge-fund legend Julian Robertson says the Federal Reserve s massive easing strategy isn t working. The government is broke and isn t addressing the issue, he tells The Australian newspaper.
The U.S. government s approach to solving the huge budget deficit and debt...